


Accidentally Naked

by TanyaReed



Series: Accidentally Naked [3]
Category: Coupling (UK), Leverage
Genre: Episode Related, Fix-It, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-09
Updated: 2018-09-09
Packaged: 2019-07-10 05:28:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,300
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15942722
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TanyaReed/pseuds/TanyaReed
Summary: Jane is accidentally naked.





	Accidentally Naked

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Hughville](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hughville/gifts).



> This is my fix it for the Coupling episode "Dressed". It's the episode that gave me the idea for this whole storyline (and has the quote in it that became the title of the series). Jane really does need better friends. Chronologically, this story comes after "Sometimes Life Gives you Purple Sludge". 
> 
> I'm gifting it to Hughville because she was the first person to read my rough, rough version of this scene, which I wrote two years ago. She also encouraged me to continue with the story, even if no one read it or would find it believable because the fact that I loved it myself was enough. Thanks for being one of the best friends ever, and I'm so sorry that I've been such a sucky friend lately!

Jane stood in the bathroom with her phone in her hand. She was completely naked and could feel panic clawing up her throat from her stomach. 

She didn't know what to do. The girls refused to answer, Jeff had wandered off to the bathroom, and Steve had been no help at all. He'd just gone on and on about his understanding with Susan. Once more, none of her friends had cared enough to come to her rescue, and she was left scrambling for a way out. 

As Jane contemplated herself in the mirror, she thought about how she'd come to be in such a terrible predicament. It was Bill's fault. He was so delicious, and Jane wanted so badly to believe that he wished to have her all to himself. If she hadn't been so focused on that, maybe she would have thought to ask if there would be other people at their dinner. Maybe she would have worn clothes under her coat.

It had been quite a shock to enter his living room and see all those people. To know that just a thin piece of fabric was all that separated her from them.

Jane's hand shook as she held tightly to her mobile. She bit her lip in indecision. There had to be someone she could call, someone who would help her if she asked.

A face came to her mind. It was a gruff, stern, no nonsense type of face. One that could do anything. One that would not flinch away from a naked woman in a bathroom. Best of all, she had his number in her mobile because he'd given it to everyone in the class. Before Jane could change her mind, she pressed “call”.

“Spencer.” Even his voice sounded firm and unyielding. 

“Chef?” Jane whispered.

“Who is this?”

“Chef, it's Jane.”

“Jane?”

“From class.”

“Oh.” There seemed to be a lot packed into that one little word. “Can't this wait for the day after tomorrow?”

“No.” She glanced at herself in the mirror. “Definitely not.”

He sighed. “What is it?”

“I'm accidentally naked.”

“Accidentally...”

“I came to a private party...but it wasn't really private...Now I'm stuck in the bathroom without any clothes on. Naked.”

“I got the naked part. Why did you call me?”

Jane thought about Sally and Susan and Jeff and Steve and Patrick. “Because there was nobody else.”

She felt her lip start to tremble but refused to cry. If Chef Spencer wouldn't help her, Mad Jane would have to go naked into that group of people—without even her coat because the little girl in the next flat had stolen it—and somehow find a way out. She'd be humiliated and lose any chance she ever had with Bill, but she would survive. She always did.

“Okay, where are you?” he asked.

“You're coming?”

He sighed heavily. “Yeah, I'm coming.”

“Thank you, Chef!” she said gratefully and gave him Bill's address.

When she ended the call, she leaned against the wall. The tile was cold against her heated, flushed skin. Jane closed her eyes and took several deep breaths. Tears pricked her eyelids, but they were tears of relief.

XXX

As he walked up to the place Jane claimed to be trapped in, Eliot cursed himself for being the kind of man who never left a woman in distress. There was a dress draped over his arm, black and sexy and belonging to the woman who'd spent a couple of days in his hotel room when he'd first arrived in London. She and Jane were of similar builds, so he was pretty sure that it would fit.

Jane. The woman was a disaster. Everything she made was practically inedible. She was brash and self absorbed and probably certifiable. Even so, there was something appealing about her. Maybe it was because she looked enough like Sophie to be her sister. If someone took Sophie and Parker and put them in a blender with a big dollop of hormones, he would probably get someone like Jane...except Eliot didn't completely buy Jane's crazy cluelessness. He was sure a huge chunk of it was an act. Maybe she had more in common with Sophie than looks.

He was thinking about this when a man with a guileless, pleasant face opened the door. The noise of talking and laughing hit Eliot squarely. This was definitely the right place.

“Hello?”

“Hey,” Eliot replied with a friendly jerk of his head. “I'm a friend of Jane's. She had a problem with her dress and she's hiding in the bathroom.”

“What?” The man's eyes widened.

“Spare dress.” Eliot held it up. “Can I come in?”

“Oh...Yeah...sure...”

“Thanks.”

“The bathroom's over there. Tell her to come into the living room when she's ready.”

“Will do.”

Eliot went to the bathroom door and knocked as the host wandered into another room.

“I'll be out in a minute,” came Jane's muffled reply. She sounded a little panicked.

“It's Eliot.”

“Who?”

“Chef Spencer.”

“Thank God!”

He expected her to open the door slightly and snatch the dress through the slit, but she didn't. Jane yanked open the door and pulled him inside before quickly slamming it shut behind him.

“Thank you!” she said in obvious relief.

Eliot had only an instant to process the amazing body in front of him before she threw her arms around him, and he suddenly had an armful of shapely, naked woman. He instinctively held her back, his palms flat against her hot skin. She smelled faintly of something tropical and edible, and her soft hair tickled his nose. The hug was well worth the inconvenience of bringing her the dress.

“Don't mention it.”

Jane released him and eagerly took the dress. She held it up so she could look it over. Her eyes lit up, and she smiled. “This is wonderful.”

Eliot tried to concentrate, even though she made no effort to hide her body from him. Apparently, her shyness of strangers seeing her naked didn't apply to him.

“Try it on,” he replied gruffly. “I want to know if it fits before I go. Sorry no underwear.”

She waved this off. “Underwear isn't important.”

Things got more interesting as she began to wiggle into the dress, but Eliot tried to keep his eyes on her face. She'd put a lot of trust in him by asking for his help, and there was no way he would break it. He didn't get the impression that Jane trusted easily.

“Wow,” she commented once the dress was in place. “Look. It fits perfectly.”

It did. Almost as if it were made for her.

“Will you zip me up?”

“Sure.”

Jane turned and Eliot took a step closer. Her scent reached for him again, and he allowed himself one delighted deep breath. He tried not to brush her skin as he closed the zipper but did anyway. She shivered.

“Sorry.”

She made a non-committal sound.

When he was finished, Eliot stayed behind her, thinking about the weird evening he was having and fighting off the temptation to ask her if she'd consider taking the dress back off again. He had no idea how he'd be able to think of her as just one of his students after this.

After a moment, he cleared his throat and took a step back. “I'd better go.”

Jane turned to face him with a strange expression in her eyes.

“Yes,” she said quietly. “Thank you, Chef.”

“Use your head next time,” he told her sternly.

“Yes, Chef.”

“I'll see you in class.”

She nodded, but she was still looking at him strangely.

“Have a good party.”

“I will.”

Eliot nodded back and left, telling himself things would be simpler if he forgot this whole night. As if he could.


End file.
